Mitchell Robinson of the New York Knicks dunks the ball during game six of the Eastern Conference First Round Playoffs at the Wells Fargo Center on May 2, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Tim Nwachukwu | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
The YES Network and MSG Networks will soon have a new broadcast home.
Independently owned, premium regional sports networks that broadcast local games for teams including MLB’s New York Yankees and NBA’s New York Knicks are moving their live streaming offerings to the consumer to DAZN.
The two networks will spin off their joint venture, the Gotham Sports app, nearly two years after its creation.
Yankees fans will still be able to finish the season in Gotham, and the move will take place during the 2026-2027 NBA and NHL seasons. YES also broadcasts the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, while MSG Networks has rights to the NHL’s New York Rangers, Islanders, Buffalo Sabers and New Jersey Devils.
Pay TV bundle customers who get access to each network through their cable provider will be able to stream those games on DAZN for free.
Pricing details for New York’s local teams on DAZN have not been released. Various subscription plans for the Gotham sports app start at around $209.99 per year.
The move to DAZN for some of the more popular pay-per-view teams comes as the regional sports network’s model is under severe pressure. Main Street Sports, the former owner of a portfolio of networks for MLB, NBA and NHL teams, closed in the spring following a bankruptcy filing and various maneuvers that left the business often unable to pay teams for sports rights.
Although YES and MSG weren’t directly involved in that mess — MSG Networks is independently owned by Knicks and Rangers owner James Dolan, and YES, the team that includes the Yankees — each station has been affected by similar cord-cutting winds despite strong ratings.
DAZN was once among the most powerful speculators during the exploitation of the broadcast-only sports rights that were owned by Main Street.
Many networks have launched their own streaming offerings in recent years in an effort to capture fans who are ditching their pay TV bundles, or who never had them in the first place. Others are partners with seasoned players like him Amazon Main video for streaming games.
DAZN is a global streaming service seeking a foothold in the US Last year DAZN was the home of the FIFA Club World Cup broadcast in the US, and one of its executives has publicly stated that it is chasing the digital rights of Main Street NBA teams.
For YES and MSG, their bands’ fans have already changed a bit. YES and MSG each launch their own apps in 2023 before merging with Gotham’s app in 2024.
MSG’s linear networks have a temporary blackout in 2025 by the cable TV provider The bestone of the cable providers in the New York area, and the YES network recently came close to the same situation Comcastas CNBC Sport previously reported.
